Making Lemonade

Teresa Kimbel commented on her blog a few days ago that I had taught her that when life serves you lemons to make lemonade. I can't say for sure how correct this is about me. I do have a very optimistic outlook on life. Some would call me foolish. Others might say I'm naive. I've always assumed things would work out. I'm sure I've frustrated my wife and family before because I just refuse to get worked up over worldly matters that I can't control. My mother always showed great faith in her life. We didn't attend church very often, but she lived her life in a way that as I look back showed she let God be in control.

In Romans (one of my favorite books) chapter 5 verses 3-5 Paul says: Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Hope. What a wonderful thing. I'm sure I have a lot of suffering yet to come on this earth but reading this gives me great hope. My suffering will produce perseverance? My perseverance character? My character hope? When my life is over I hope that I'll be remembered as a man of great character who loved the Lord. What more could you ask for? What better trait to pass on to your family? God never promised us it would be easy. He did promise us however in Hebrews 13:5 that he would never leave us or forsake us.

His promises are the magic ingredient in every batch of my lemonade. Drink up. Fear Not!